World Cup Qualifiers: Northern Ireland finish with a win

A much-changed Northern Ireland rounded off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a win at home to Luxembourg.

It was a flat evening in Belfast compared to the highs this group - and this current young squad - has seen. But Michael O'Neill's side grabbed their third win and nine points in the group, with Jamie Donley scoring his first senior international goal with a first half penalty.

While the performance was certainly not up to the level of other matches in the group, that was to be expected, given the changes and the fact there was nothing to play for.

It will give O'Neill food for thought in terms of who can come into the starting line-up when his best XI isn't available, but he would be hard pressed to find anyone standing out and putting their hand up demanding to be selected.

O’Neill made six changes from the side that lost 1-0 away to Slovakia on Friday night, due to a mix of suspensions, injuries and freshening up the side.

Conor Hazard came in for injured goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, while Ciaron Brown and Jamie McDonnell replaced the suspended Dan Ballard and George Saville.

Jamal Lewis started ahead of Trai Hume, while Ethan Galbraith returned from a ban in midfield for Justin Devenny. The final alteration saw Donley replace Dion Charles up front.

Northern Ireland began on the front foot, exposing Luxembourg’s attempt at a high press regularly in the opening 15 minutes.

They had four good chances in that spell with the first coming on six minutes as captain Conor Bradley screwed his effort high and wide from just inside the box after a corner

Three minutes later, Isaac Price latched onto a quick throw in from the left and tried his luck from 20 yards but visiting keeper Anthony Moris held it comfortably.

It didn’t take long for another opportunity to arise as Northern Ireland began to find their rhythm.

In the tenth minute, a sweeping move was started by Donley, who found Galbraith on the right. He switched play to Isaac Price, with the attacker’s backheel teeing up Lewis, who could only fire wildly over.

The hosts did have the ball in the net on the quarter hour with Donley thinking he had got off the mark at senior level.

Galbraith squared it to the striker following Paddy McNair's raking diagonal ball. However, Galbraith was deemed to have been offside before Donley finished expertly from 12 yards.

After that, Northern Ireland seemed to go off the boil somewhat and that allowed the away side’s confidence to grow.

They went close with the best chance of the match up until that point on 24 minutes.

Daniel Sinani's powerful run towards to box led to him sliding the ball through to Christopher Martins, but Hazard came out of his goal at lightning pace to make the block.

Three minutes later, Luxembourg were inches away from going in front as Mathias Olesen curled his first-time effort just wide from 20 yards

Then came the turning point of the half when – to the surprise of pretty much everyone in the ground, Estonian Referee Kristo Tohver was ordered to check the VAR screen.

After a relatively quick deliberation he awarded a spot kick for a foul by Christopher Martins on Brown right on the edge of the box.

Donley took hold of the ball and sent Moris the wrong way from the spot to make it 1-0 at the break.

O’Neill made one change at half-time, with Bradley going off to be replaced by Terry Devlin at right wing-back. He was then forced into a further alteration with Brad Lyons picking up an injury and Paul Smyth coming on in his place.

Josh Magennis was introduced midway through the half to enter the top 10 appearance makers of all-time for his country as he replaced McDonnell, while Callum Marshall took goalscorer Donley's place in the forward line.

There was a nice moment inside the final 10 minutes when Patrick Kelly came on for his senior international debut, the former Coleraine midfielder replacing Jamal Lewis.

Kelly did superbly in stoppage time to weave his way across the box and set up Price, who ballooned it over the bar. That sort of summed up the night.

Now it's onto March's play-off and another chance at booking their tickets to the USA, Canada and Mexico.

MATCH STATS

Northern Ireland: Hazard, McNair, Brown, McConville, Bradley (C) (Devlin H-T), Lewis (Kelly 82), McDonnell (Magennis 66), Galbraith, Lyons (Smyth 52), Price, Donley (Marshall 66)

Subs not used: Clarke (GK), Southwood (GK), Toal, Johnson, D Charles, Devenny, McCausland

Luxembourg: Moris, M Martins (Dzogovic 87), Jans, Korac, Carlson, Olesen (Moreira 66), C Martins, Barreiro, O Thill (Muratovic 80), Sinani, Dardari (Avdusinoivc 66)

Subs not used: Pereira (GK), Fox (GK), Djabi Embalo, Mustafic, Curci, Veiga, Selimovic, S Thill

Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia)

Attendance: 18,037